L.a.-class Sub To Be Retired, Not Refueled

September 17, 1993|By Daily Press

NORFOLK NAVAL BASE — The Navy will for the first time retire a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine during ceremonies Saturday at Norfolk Naval Base.

The USS Baton Rouge, the second of the L.A.-class subs to enter the fleet, was originally scheduled for a refueling overhaul. But the Navy decided this year to inactivate the sub as a cost-saving measure. A refueling overhaul would cost $200 million, said Melody Somers, an Atlantic Fleet Sub Force spokeswoman. Inactivating the sub, she said, will cost $50 million.

The ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. at Pier 21.

The Baton Rouge was launched on April 26, 1975, at Newport News Shipbuilding. Commissioned June 25, 1977, the sub has logged 682,488 miles and spent 41,268 hours submerged. It has made four deployments to the Mediterranean, six to the North Atlantic and two each to the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean.

The retirement of the Baton Rouge leaves 52 L.A.-class subs in the fleet. Nine more are planned, all of which are under construction. Six of those are being built at Newport News. The remaining three are under construction at Electric Boat in Groton, Conn.